1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the automobile and other vehicle manufacture and service industries. More particularly, the present invention relates to portable power tools designed and built for removing vehicle adhesive to remove pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle.
The present invention also relates to the field of automobile body work. More particularly, the present invention also relates to portable preparation tools used for preparing an automobile body for repairing, painting, decoration or other services. 2. Description of the Prior Art
In automobile and other vehicle manufacture and service industries, people often need to remove pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from the bodies of vehicles such as trucks or automobiles. Traditionally it is done by peeling, scratching or sanding off the pinstripes, decals, side moldings, etc. However, these traditional methods usually damage the original paint on the bodies of the vehicles.
There is a significant need for an improved method to remove the pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle without damaging the paint on the vehicle.
In addition, in automobile and other vehicle manufacture and service industries, people often need to prepare the surface of automobile bodies for further vehicle body work, such as repairing, painting or decoration. Various portable tools are used for preparing automobile body surfaces. Typical automobile surface or body work preparation tools include rotary tools, such as and electric or pneumatic motor, and abrasive wheels, sand stones, etc., which can be attached to the rotatable tools.
The following seventeen (17) prior art references are relevant to portable automobile body work preparation tools or related devices.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 856,323 issued to Wickes on Jun. 11, 1907 for "Apparatus For Removing Labels From Records For Talking Machines" (hereafter "the Wickes Patent").
2. U.S. Pat. No. 2,545,453 issued to Forss on Mar. 20, 1951 for "Rotary Pneumatic Tool" (hereafter "the Forss Patent").
3. U.S. Pat. No. 2,570,009 issued to Schmid on Oct. 2, 1951 for "Throttle Valve For Fluid Actuated Rotary Tools" (hereafter "the Schmid Patent").
4. U.S. Pat. No. 2,607,232 issued to Haase on Aug. 19, 1952 for "Utility Appliance" (hereafter "the Haase Patent").
5. U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,286 issued to Salick on Sep. 30, 1958 for "Method Of Manufacture Of Buffing Disk And Bonnets" (hereafter "the Salick Patent").
6. U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,569 issued to Davis et al. on Sep. 24, 1963 for "Stud Bolt Remover" (hereafter "the Davis Patent").
7. U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,955 issued to Samuelson on Apr. 24, 1979 for "Deformable Non-Cellular Polyurethane Polishing Wheel" (hereinafter "the Samuelson Patent").
8. U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,061 issued to Hill on Apr. 8, 1980 for "Rotary Pneumatic Vane Motor With Rotatable Tubing Contracted By Vanes" (hereinafter "the Hill Patent").
9. U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,374 issued to Berner on Dec. 16, 1989 for "Boring Tool With Cutting Edge Adjustment For Withdrawal Clearance" (hereafter "the Berner Patent").
10. U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,724 issued to Outlaw on Sep. 1, 1987 for "Electrically Heated Decal Stripping Tool" (hereafter "the Outlaw Patent").
11. U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,319 issued to Crutchfield on Sep. 12, 1989 for "Erasing Machine" (hereafter "the Crutchfield Patent").
12. U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,807 issued to Mathews et al. on Apr. 9, 1991 for "Extension Bar For Blast Furnace Tap Hole Drill" (hereafter "the Mathews Patent").
13. U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,207 issued to Kirn on Aug. 27, 1991 for "Clamping Device For Axially Tightening A Tool, In Particular A Disc" (hereafter "the Kirn Patent").
14. U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,620 issued to Winter on Mar. 2, 1993 for "Method Of Using A Rotatable Disc To Remove Heat Softenable Surface Coverings" (hereafter "the Winter Patent").
15. Great Britain Patent No. 2,084,059 issued to McGarry on Apr. 7, 1982 for "Sanding Attachment For A Patent Tool" (hereafter "the McGarry Patent").
16. Great Britain Patent No. 2,114,925 issued to Karwacki on Sep. 1, 1983 for "Work-head And A Power Device Including Such A Work-Head" (hereafter "the Karwacki Patent").
17. German Patent No. 3,030,351 issued to Sprengel for "An Eraser Device" (hereafter "the German Patent").
The Wickes Patent discloses an apparatus for removing labels impressed into records. In includes a suitable base upon which a table is adapted to support the disk from which the label is to be removed.
The Forss Patent discloses a rotary pneumatic tool for grinding and rotary filing.
The Schmid Patent discloses a fluid actuated tool of the rotary type. It includes a cylindrical housing comprising a main portion and a rear portion capable of relative rotation.
The Haase Patent discloses a utility appliance for use around the home. It includes a motor, a frame, a flexible sheather driving cable and a supporting reel which is mounted on the frame. The reel is rotatable in one direction to extend the cable and rotatable reversely to retrieve the cable.
The Salick Patent discloses a method of manufacturing buffing disks and bonnets. The method utilizes a flexible or rigid form or core upon which is single and continuous strand of yarn, thread, fiber, wire, ribbon, or any combination is rapidly wound. The density of the strands in the disk is predeterminately controlled by the compactness of the winding of the strand on the form strip.
The Davis Patent discloses a drive for removing a stud bolt from a tapped bore. It includes a tubular member which is adapted to threadedly engage a stud bolt mounted in a tapped bore formed in a body, such as an engine block, or the like.
The Samuelson Patent discloses a deformable non-cellular polyurethane polishing wheel. The Samuelson device is a highly flexible, deformable polyurethane polishing or finishing wheel with a high density and suitable reinforcement to resist expansion under centrifugal force, where the wheel lasts at least 3 to 5 times as long as the spirally-wound finishing wheels.
The Hill Patent discloses a rotary pneumatic vane motor with rotatable tubing contacted by vanes. It includes a freely rotatable cylindrical shaped tubing located within the housing of a pneumatic motor, which forms the radial boundary of a drive chamber for the rotating vanes of a rotary seal vane type motor.
The Berner Patent discloses a boring tool which has a radially adjustable tool bit holder mounted on a head part which is connectable to an adaptor.
The Outlaw Patent discloses an electrically heated decal stripping tool. The tool includes a decal stripper attachment for a soldering iron. The decal stripping tool is adapted for the quick removal of adhesive decals from an automotive surface.
The Crutchfield Patent discloses a hand-held, motor driven erasing machine which operates directly from the nominal wall outlet voltage.
The Mathews Patent disclosed an extension bar for a blast furnace tap hole drill.
The Kirn Patent discloses a clamping device for portable grinding machines. The clamping device in part of a clamping nut, which is screwed on the threaded spindle portion of the drive spindle. The clamping nut carries a non-rotatable and axially displacement clamping disk.
The Winter Patent discloses a soft elastomeric disc for removing polymeric compositions from an underlying substrate. It includes a rotatable body comprising a peripheral surface and is rotatable about its axis.
The McGarry Patent discloses a sanding attachment for a power tool.
The Karwacki Patent discloses a work-head and a power device. The work-head includes a hard rubber base in which separate abrasive sanding sheets are attached.
The German Patent discloses a hand-held mechanical erasing device. It includes a housing with an on/off switch, a battery, a motor and an erasing wheel.
It can be seen that the tools disclosed in above prior art patents are all single purpose tools, each used only for performing a particular task. It is desirable to have a new portable preparation tool kit for automobile body work, which can be used for performing a series of tasks.